Advanced Placement Examinations

            AP Exams. Yikes! I said it.  In case you forgot, the annual exams starts tomorrow and if you are one of those people who took AP Environmental Science, Psychology, or Chemistry you have the unlucky first day testing.  If that happens to be your first AP Exam I have some tips for you from an old timer.

1.      Study.  If you have an exam tomorrow, like I do, it is basically too late to do this now.  You could try going through and making sure you remember the large topics but it is going to be almost pointless now.  If you have a little more time left, start studying today, not tomorrow, but today.  Get a study book and split it up by how many days you have left before the exam, but leaving the night before the exam open.

2.      Know the timing of all your exams.  You don’t want to think you have more time than you really do.  The best idea would be to take a practice exam so you know exactly what it feels like to have minimal time.

3.      Sleep.  Hopefully that is a duh thing, but just in case, I decided to include it in the tips.  I’m not talking about just the night before either; make sure you get ample amounts of sleep a few nights leading up to the exam.

4.      Eat a good breakfast.  This is something that you are supposed to do every day, but if you are like me you usually don’t.  However, the day of the exam make sure that you do eat breakfast.  You will do much better on your exams if you aren’t sitting there thinking about how hungry you are, and it will help keep you from getting tired and stay energized during the exam.

5.      Don’t drink a lot the morning of the exam and avoid coffee.  You are probably asking yourself why I would say to avoid coffee, but hopefully the drinking part makes sense.  However, caffeine runs through your system faster than say water, so drinking it will have to make you use the restroom very soon after you start the exam.

6.      Leave for your testing site with plenty of time.  Your exam will either be starting right during morning rush hour or during lunch hour.  You don’t want to get stuck in traffic and be late.  Also remember this is the time for construction so make sure you know which roads may be closed.  Once the doors are closed to the testing site they will not let you in, so don’t be late.  It will be better to arrive early rather than late.

7.      Go to the bathroom when you arrive at the testing site before taking your seat.  You want to make sure that you won’t need to go as soon as the testing is done, all the tests I believe are timed and you don’t want to waste any of the valuable time in the restroom.

I know your school will probably give you their own set of tips, along with all of your different teachers.  These are just what I do and have seemed to work for me the last couple of years.  Most of all, I wish all of your good luck on all of your exams.

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